INEC Speaks On Posting Of ICT Director Days Before 2023 Elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rebuffed the controversy surrounding the posting of the Director of its Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Femi Odubiyi, days before the 2023 elections.

Naija News reported that a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, had in a statement on Sunday claimed that Odubiyi was a mole deliberately planted in INEC to subvert the will of the Nigerian electorate.

George asked INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, to explain how Odubiyi, a former Commissioner for Science and Technology in Lagos State, became the head of a critical department days before the elections.

The PDP chieftain, who claimed that Odubiyi was a close ally to the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, called on the INEC chairman to sack the former commissioner.

But in an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, INEC spokesman, Festus Okoye, denied the claim that Odubiyi was a mole planted in the electoral umpire.

Okoye said the decision to post the  Commission’s ICT Director days before the presidential and national assembly elections was taken in the best interest of the nation, adding that all Administrative Secretaries of the Commission are Directors.

He said the decision was taken at a time when the electoral body was panicky about whether there were going to be new Resident Electoral Commissioners while preparing for elections.

Okoye said at that stage, the Commission needed to post its best hands to serve as Administrative Secretaries and manage the elections in the absence of the Resident Electoral Commissioners.

Court Judgement on TVCs

On the judgement directing the Commission to allow Nigerians to vote with the Temporary Voters Cards, Okoye said INEC has already filed an appeal to challenge the ruling.

According to the INEC spokesman, the electoral umpire is the only body allowed by law to determine what can be used for voting.

He said the slip given to the electorates during registration was to let them know that they have been registered while the information they provided are being processed.